St. Dunstan's Guild of Change Ringers Practices are at 6:00 p.m. Tuesdays
Doug McCoy, Bell Tower Captain
324-3456
We ring from within the Columbarium and Bell Tower. This gives the columbarium a living, celebratory function rather than just being a repository of the dead. The congregation passes by and watches the ringing on Sunday. The treble rope (bell 1) is immediately to the right of the door and the tenor (bell 10) is immediately to the left of the door. The bells are rung to changes in the English tradition. While there are more than 5,000 towers with 45,000 ringers ringing changes in England on any Sunday morning, there are only 38 such towers in North America. Ringing was popular here before the Revolutionary War. It was revived in this country at The National Cathedral in the 1960s.
Details of the Bells
The back eight bells were cast at John Warner & Sons, Spitalfields, London in 1883 for The Church of Mary Magdalene, Enfield. Grace Church bought these bells because they were destroying the Enfield tower. Enfield purchased a new, lighter ring. The two additional trebles were cast at Whitechapel in 1999.
Bell
Weight
Note
Inscription
Treble
541 lbs.
G
Sing to the Lord a new song. SOLI DEO GLORIA
2nd
585 lbs.
F
O praise God in the congregation of the faithful. Sarah Lucas Flint
3rd
626 lbs.
E-flat
O praise God in His holiness; Praise Him in the firmament of His power.
4th
681 lbs.
D
Praise Him in His noble acts; Praise Him according to His excellent greatness.
5th
737 lbs.
C
Praise Him in the sound of the trumpet; Praise Him in on the lute and harp.
6th
798 lbs.
B-flat
Praise Him in the cymbals and dances; Praise him upon the strings and pipe.
7th
1002 lbs.
A-flat
Praise Him upon the well tuned cymbals; praise Him upon the loud cymbals.
8th
1139 lbs.
G
Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord.
9th
1453 lbs.
F
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost.
Tenor
1875 lbs.
E-flat
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.
